Do programmers need to know Linux? (Let’s find out)

Linux provides you with total control of your working environment.

Linux contains a large collection of distributions like Ubuntu, RedHat, Mint, etc.

On the other hand, the open source versions of Linux are not widely used by the general people so very few viruses have been created for it.

So any system that runs on Linux is more secure than the system that runs on different operating systems like Windows, macOS, etc.

For this reason almost 96.4% of servers now running on Linux operating systems. 

If you are using Windows, macOS, or any other programming language then you may struggle of checking third-party drivers.

In Linux, you need not worry about any kind of third-party verification or driver.

That’s the reason behind the growing popularity of Linux over proprietary OSs like Windows XP, Haiku, Mac, etcetera.

In this article, we are going to discuss the necessity of learning Linux for programmers.

How Important Is It for programmers to Learn Linux?

It’s not mandatory to learn Linux as a programmer but it will be a plus if you know Linux and the terminal.

There are many programmers who never used Linux or its terminal.

But it also depends on the project you are working on. If you are working on a software development project where you are developing software, then you may need to learn basic Linux.

Because most of the software was supported on most used and popular operating systems like macOS, Windows, etc.

So for making software available in Linux, you need to compile the whole software program for Linux. 

If you want to specialize in Windows, use ASP, and work with .NET all the time, you’re perfectly fine never needing to learn a thing about *nix at all. Just like if you want to focus on iOS apps, you never need to learn Windows programming, since they have their own environment.

But most of the expert programs suggest learning Linux as it will provide you more freedom than the other operating systems like Windows, macOS, etc.

Besides skills in Linux is become important and highly encourage for a programmer to his job prospects and the overall understanding of how development works.

Some Important Reasons Why You Should Use Linux

Now we are going to discuss some important reasons why you should use Linux as a programmer.

1. Linux is Highly Secured

Linux is developed and deployed to provide the highest priority on security.

So you are safe and may easily avoid harmful malware and viruses. The highly secured design won’t let the assaulters do much damage to the system consisting of a variety of reading and writing privileges.

The major difference between Linux with other programming languages is that Linux won’t be generating logs or uploading data from your systems, thereby making it exceedingly privacy-focussed.

Linux is mostly used by developers and programmers. General people are not used to this operating system.

Creating a virus or malware for a Linux environment is not a good idea for hackers as their main target is the general people who don’t understand the computer much and use the computer only for general purposes like doing official kinds of stuff, watching movies, etc.

2. Linux offers you a large number of customized option

Other operating systems like Windows and macOS won’t allow you to customize based on your requirements.

But Linux will allow you to customize the whole environment based on your needs.

A few desktop environments offered by Linux are Cinnamon, Unity, GNOME, and KDE.

Apart from this customization, users have an option of tweaking the desktop utilities (which could be disk repair, backup, or file management and networking programs) in Linux, adding newer fonts and icons delivering amazing effects, reskinning desktop themes with Conky Linux, and so on.

On the whole, Linux will provide total control over how you would like to see your environment.

Even you can make changes to the source code of the operating system. 

3. Linux has its own scripting language named Bash Scripts

Unlike other scripting languages, Linux contains the most powerful scripting language named Bash.

It is one kind of shell script that is incorporated a variety of commands for executing numerous tasks in Linux terminal and Linux-based environments.

You also can automate your tasks through this scripting language.

Through the scripting language, you can perform tasks like managing the mailing lists, removing duplicates while extracting business or non-business email addresses, or adding accurate formatting whose results are read well by other programs.

But some of the parts of Bash script may be hard to learn for newbies but they are capable of flexibly and quickly joining existing programs into powerful Linux solutions.

Besides the syntax of Bash is easy to use and you need not provide so much effort into identifying errors and bugs.

Final Thoughts

Based on the features, functionality, and maintainability, most software companies now required a minimum level of knowledge of Linux.

If you are a programmer and working in a windows environment, you can be forced to take updates during your working time, but in Linux, you need not fall into this kind of unwanted situation.

Linux is totally free and open source. You can organize your environment depending on your needs.

Even Linux will allow you to customize the source code too. In other operating systems like windows, you can’t control the running of the background processes totally.

They are running in the background without your permission and draining your RAM and slowing down your computer.

In Linux, you also can control these background processes and it will not force you to include any third-party software.

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Happy Coding!